Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Hunan Province Reports A New H5N6 Infection

#11,412

Although case reports remain widely scattered and sporadic, we continue to see new cases of H5N6 crop up infection in China. During its 1st 18 months of circulation (April 2014-Nov 2015), it was only diagnosed in 4 people.

But over the past six months (Dec 2015-May 2016), China has reported 11 new cases spread across 4 provinces.

In April Hunan Province reported their first case (seeChina Reports 2nd H5N6 Case in A Week),that of an 11 year-old girl from Lusong district, Zhuzhou city, who was said to be recovering after a serious bout of pneumonia.

Today Hunan Province reports their 2nd case, in a brief statement offered by their provincial CDC.

A little over a week ago the WHO released an assessment which noted not only the increase in human infections, but the ongoing evolution of the virus as well.

Avian influenza A(H5) viruses

(Excerpt)

According to the animal health authorities in
China 3,4 , influenza A(H5N6) viruses have been detected in poultry in
recent months in many provinces in the country, including those
reporting human cases. Recent publications indicate ongoing evolution of
avian influenza A(H5N6) viruses through reassortment with other avian
influenza viruses resulting in viruses with different internal genes.
5,6

To date, no changes in transmissibility
in humans have been detected as a result of these reassortant 1viruses.
Surveillance is continuing in both human and animal populations to
monitor for further virus evolution. All recent avian influenza A(H5N6)
viruses that have been tested remain susceptible to the neuraminidase
inhibitor class of antiviral drugs.

While the overall case counts remain low, and we've seen no indication of human-to-human spread, this upward trend in cases is of
concern, as are the detections of H5N6 in poultry in Vietnam and Laos,
and the virus showing up inmigratory birds in Hong Kong.

For more background on this emerging avian flu threat, you may wish to revisit some of these blogs from last year: